Each year Lab/Shul chooses a High Holy Days theme that helps us make sense of the moment we are living through and gives us something to keep returning to throughout the year.
This year’s theme is HOLY SHIFT.
Because, well…everything is shifting.
We are living through enormous changes in our politics, our technologies, our identities, our communities and our understanding of what the future might look like. The world feels increasingly interconnected and, at the same time, deeply divided. And here at Lab/Shul, we are also entering a significant season of change as Rabbi Amichai begins his own personal and professional transition and we step together into the next chapter of our community.
So what makes a shift holy?
Part of our inspiration comes from Jewish Renewal founder Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s 1993 call for a genuine “paradigm shift” in Jewish life. He envisioned a move away from ritual as something we simply repeat because we have inherited it, toward ritual that actually changes us. His challenge feels especially relevant at this moment.
The High Holy Days have always been designed for this kind of transformation. Teshuvah literally means “return,” inviting us to turn back toward what matters, reckon with where we’ve strayed, and choose how we want to move forward.
Sometimes shift comes through grief. Sometimes through wonder. Sometimes through laughter. So this year, we are asking:
How might we meet this moment to allow for a Holy Shift in how we see, connect, and move forward in 5787?
We’ll explore this question through ritual, music, art, meditation, humor, community and the ancient technologies of these sacred days.
Hopefully, we leave a little different than when we arrived.